Potato-digger.



No. 831,008. PATBNTED SEPT. 11, 1906. 0. KNOBRZBR. POTATO BIGGER.

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No. 831,008. PATENTBD SEPT. 11, 1900. 0. KNOBRZER. POTATO BIGGER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30, 1905.

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PO'IATO MACHINERY COMPANY, OF HAMMOND, INDIANA, A OOR- PORATION OF INDIANA.

P'oTATo-DIGGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 11, 1906.

Application lenl September 30, 1905. Serial No. 280,768.

To all 'wh/0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTO KNOERZER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Hammond, in the county of Lake and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato- Diggers, of which the following is a specifi,-

cation.

My invention relates to improvements in potato-diggers, and more particularly to improvements in the throat portion-that is, the portion immediately behind the shovelblademthe object being to provide means whereby clogging of the throat may be avoided and the traction of the digger made much lighter.

The invention is fully described and ex-' plained in this specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a potato-digger embodying my improved device. Fig. 2 is a side view of one of the side plates of the throat, the shovel-blade being cut away in the line 2 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a top plan of the side plates of the throat and the shovelblade, the upper ends of the side plates being cut away in the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of one of the side plates of the throat and the shovel-blade, and Fig. 5 is a section in the line 5 5 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrow.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that in general my device is similar to potatodiggers now in use, and for that reason its general construction will not be `particularly set forth.

My invention particularly relates to the construction of the throat in which the potatoes are received in the first instance from the ground, and therefore this portion of the device has been illustrated in detail.

A represents the sides of the device. These sides are fiat and vertical and at their forward ends are connected to the rear section B of the throat side plates. The front sections of the throat side plates are indicated by C, and it will be obvious that these two parts B and C could be made integral, if desired. The sections B are carried upward and forward in the form of draft-beams by which the digger is drawn along the ground. The forward edges ofthe sides A are reinforced by angleof the sides and are bolted or otherwise secured to the side plates B C. The front throat side plates C are formed with inwardly-extending lugs c, which are connected by a shovel-blade D, which enters the ground andV raises the potatoes in the ordinary way.

It is to be noted that the throat side plates B and C taper downward toward their front ends and also are flared outward at their upper edges, which edges are rolled backward to give a smooth round surface or bead. It should also be noticed that the lower edges of the side plates of the throat are straight lines in line with the lower edges of the sides of the machine, while the upper edges of the throat flare outward to a point approximately midway of the throat and then return to the vertical plane of the sides.

In diggers of this class the potatoes are raised by the shovel-blade and delivered upon the elevating and separating mechanism E, which extends from a point immediately in back of the shovel-blade to the rear end of the machine. It will be observed that the widest portion of the throat is considerably back of the front end of the elevating and separating mechanism and that the draft-beams extend up from this point.

I find that by using this construction the potato-vines which are fast to the potatoes when dug tend to follow the potatoes into the throat, rolling smoothly into the device. In the ordinary construction of the throats of potato-diggers the sides consist of vertical plates having thin and often rough upper edges, or the shovel-blade itself is provided with vertical sides, and the draft-beams are connected t'o the digger immediately behind the shovel-blade, so that great difliculty has been encountered by reason of the fact that the vines have caught on the upper edges of the sides of the shovel-blade and on the draftbeams, thereby clogging up the machine and making its traction exceedingly difficult. Vith my device, on the contrary, this difficulty is removed and a smooth operation coupled with easy traction is obtained.

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of this construction without departing from the spirit of the inven- IOO tion, and I therefore do not intend to limit myself to the specific form herein shown and described.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. In a potato-digger, side plates for the throat which taper downward toward the front, bow outward along their upper edges, and along their extreme top are rolled outward in a curve to provide a smooth rounded surface or bead Jfor the vines.

2. In a potato-digger, the combination with flat vertical side walls, of draft-beams which form unbroken lcontinuations of the side walls and bow outward from their lower edges and from the vertical side walls, side plates for the throat which taper down toward the front and bow outward, the adjacent portions of the draft-beams following the same general bowed contour, a short shovel connecting the front ends of the side plates, and an elevator running between the side plates to the shovel.

their points of junction with the side walls, and being bowed outwardly along the lower portions of their front edges, side platesfor the throat secured to the angle-irons and draft-beams, which side plates bow outward and taper downward toward their iront the side walls and side plates, the planes of which portions merge into the curved planos ofthe side plates and into the vertical planes of the side walls and have comparatively wide and curved front edges which merge into the upper edges of the side plates, and a short shovel-blade connecting the front ends ofthe side plates.

In witness whereof I have signed the above application for Letters Patent, at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 27th day of September, A. D. 1905.

OTTO KNQERZER.

Witnesses:

CHAs. O. SHERVEY, K. M. CoRNwALL. 

